Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I want to again stay relevant to what's happening in our world with the coronavirus. The energy that I'm feeling these past few days reminds me a lot of the energy I felt when I was going through my own personal crisis in 2014 when my father passed away from cancer. Life stops and takes a long pause, whether you like it or not. The world forces you to reorganize your priorities. You have no choice but to cease your existing routine. Being in a space like that is incredibly disorienting. And very scary. But it can also be an incredible gift if you allow this time to change you, rather than resist it and complain about it.

Each one of us can learn something significant about ourselves right now. Maybe you've been hustling and grinding for years and this quiet time has already shown you that you need to slow down for the benefit of your physical and mental health. Maybe it's shown you that you haven't been a terrific friend because you've been "too busy" and you need to make more of an effort in your friendships. Maybe it's shown you that you've been taking your health for granted, and you've already started to take more walks around the block and cook healthier meals. All of these changes are true gifts that can stick with you for a lifetime and increase the quality of your life from here on out.

The other gift that's readily apparent right now (for many of us anyways) is time. A few months ago, I took a poll on my Instagram Stories because there are so many women out there who want to start their own business but haven't yet. I wanted to understand what was holding them back and see if I could help (and I've since offered a Mentoring Program which you can read more about by clicking here). I distinctly remember that most of the women who replied said they haven't started their own business yet because they just don't have the time. Think about all the things you've put off or declined entirely because of a lack of time. Here it is! We will never get this time back. We can spend it glued to the news, hearing the same information being repeated over and over again, or we can make mature decisions to consume the news several times per day in smaller chunks and use the remaining time proactively. Maybe we're all built differently, but I feel a heck of a lot better working on a jewelry project with my favorite playlist in the background than I do sitting in front of the news for 2 hours at a clip. Maybe one of your coping strategies during this difficult time can be working on the project or the business idea that you have never had any time for. Start small - set aside 20 minutes tomorrow to work on it. See how it feels. You may find that it excites you and distracts you from your worries so much that an hour goes by in the blink of an eye. It might be the best thing you do for your mental sanity all week. And maybe not - but at least you gave it a shot. You have nothing to lose!

When things get tough this week, I hope you are able to take a breath, sit down, and focus on the gifts that are being presented to you right now rather than the difficulties. It's our choice to direct our energy towards what's missing and what we've lost... or towards the opportunities and lessons that are showing up for us right now and can forever improve our lives going forward.

Stay calm, stay healthy, stay positive!

xoxo,

Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I wanted to talk about finding the silver lining. In life, we’ll all have failures, make mistakes, and experience at least a few crises (one of which is going on right now with the global coronavirus pandemic). But there’s always an opportunity to look for the silver lining. I believe every negative situation shows up to teach us something, to grow us, or to evolve us into better versions of ourselves. When you look at life this way, it becomes a lot easier to accept challenges, make big changes, take risks, and strive for your dreams because it truly is a win-win situation. Even if you “fail” you will learn something, put a new experience under your belt, perhaps acquire new skills, and maybe even meet new people along the way that will help shape your future path. How do I know this to be true? From my own experience of course. I started to look at life this way when I realized that the worst, most negative experience of my entire life - watching my father battle an aggressive cancer for 10 months and pass away at home in hospice care - literally led to the best thing that’s ever happened in my life and that’s starting grace + hudson. When a parent passes away, especially when it’s at a relatively young age like 65, all of a sudden you understand (I mean, really understand) that you aren’t here forever and that you’ve got to make the most of this one precious life. If I hadn’t gained this new appreciation for life from experiencing my father’s death, I have no doubt that I’d still be a miserable lawyer, wishing away the days until retirement when I can finally quit and move to a beach. Instead, I quit and moved to a beach in my 30’s (I live just 5 miles away from the ocean now!). I feel more alive now than I ever have, and I feel so lucky to have an appreciation for life that most people my age just don’t have. If I can find the silver lining in watching my father die from cancer in hospice care, I know you can find the silver lining in whatever situation is confronting you now.

Let me give you another really poignant example. You’ve probably heard me talk about this before, but it’s worth reiterating here. I quit my lawyer job once before, in 2010, and opened a brick + mortar jewelry store in New Jersey where I grew up. I closed the store after just one year and had to go back to being a lawyer, but it was such a pivotal step on my journey. Without that experience, grace + hudson wouldn’t be what it is today. In fact, I’m not sure it would be around at all! When I had that store in 2010, brides-to-be often came in looking for bridesmaid jewelry gifts. They all raised the same complaints and were looking for similar things. I have never been married myself, so there was no way for me to know how hard it is to find classy jewelry with sophisticated, subtle color to match a wedding. At a giftable price point. That can be worn again after the wedding (so it truly is a “gift” and not just something to wear in the ceremony). Having that first “failed” store was a crucial step in me building a successful second business that focuses on classy, giftable jewelry. Aside from learning about this need in the marketplace, this first “failed” store taught me a TON about what it takes to run a business. You can read all day long about what it takes to start a business (and you should because knowledge is power!) but until you’re in the thick of it, you just don’t know. It’s just one of those things you need to experience first-hand. All the mistakes I made the first time around taught me how to be better this time around. I also met so many amazing people in the process. So it goes without saying that I don’t for one single second regret opening that first jewelry store in 2010 even though most would label it a “failure.”

Now, more than ever, it’s important to find the silver lining. There is always a silver lining. Let’s look at the current situation with the coronavirus for a second. Yes, it’s an absolutely awful situation and it’s wreaking havoc on our lives. But let’s try to focus on the smallest positives. At the very least, it’ll give you more time at home and maybe that means bonding more with your husband, your children, or even your dog. Maybe this time away from the office will allow you to avoid a commute and catch an extra hour of sleep in the mornings, or show your boss just how productive you can be at home and earn you the right to work remotely more often going forward. Maybe eating more frequently at home instead of going out all the time will help you feel healthier and help you kickstart a new habit of cooking healthy meals at least several times a week. In any situation, there’s the opportunity to focus on the negative, and then there’s the opportunity to discover what the negative might be able to teach you. 

I hope you’ll keep these examples in mind when you have to deal with something negative - whether that’s the coronavirus, a failed business, or anything in between. I also hope this perspective (that you really haven't "failed" if you've learned or grown from the experience) helps you gain the courage to go after your dream or make a big change. It's not really about whether the dream or big change succeeds, it's about who you become along the way. Cheers to staying safe, calm, grounded, and positive over the next few weeks.

xoxo,

Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I'm talking about following your gut and your intuition. If you've been following along with me for a little while, you know that I have made some big changes in the past 3 years. I quit my lawyer job to start a jewelry business, I moved from Chicago to Charleston, and now I'm expanding my online business by opening a brick and mortar jewelry store in Charleston. I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm not someone who enjoys remaining in her comfort zone (we have one lifetime! I'm going to spend it doing all the things I want to experience!). But I truly understand that for most, making big change and approaching an uncertain path is not easy. And let me be clear - none of this has been "easy" for me. All of these decisions have involved some hard work, some hard decisions, and some risk (and only came after 3+ years of pretty intense therapy and hard work on myself). Because I've experienced these 3 big changes recently, I wanted to take a minute to talk about how I did it. How I just knew these were the right decisions for me, even though they were all a little scary at the time. If you've been evaluating a big life change, maybe this will help you think about your decision in a new light.

All three of my recent big decisions had something in common - I had an undeniable knowing, a huge gut feeling, a big intuitive hit that these were the right decisions for me. For example, when I decided to quit my lawyer job, I happened to be in St. John and St. Thomas (my home away from home) and I was on the beach very early in the morning by myself on the last morning of vacation. I was praying for guidance and got this seriously overwhelming feeling that if I had the courage to take the leap and quit my job, that I would be caught. That I would be provided for. These intuitive feelings were so strong, I remember them like they happened yesterday. Then, when I decided to move away from Chicago, I again had the same overwhelming intuitive feeling that it was time to close my chapter in Chicago. Coincidentally (or maybe not), this feeling occurred right after I returned to Chicago from a trip to St. John. All of a sudden, I just knew that my time in Chicago was over. It was this undeniable feeling that it was time to move on. Then, most recently, I decided to sign a lease for a jewelry store in downtown Charleston and again I got this seriously overwhelming "knowing" that this is what I'm supposed to do. A totally undeniable feeling. So undeniable that if I had said "no" to the lease, I would have felt like I was betraying myself. Seriously. That's how strong the feeling was on all three occasions. 

Maybe you'll say I'm blessed to have such strong intuition, but I believe everyone has the ability to tune into their intuition. We have all experienced a gut feeling at some point. Maybe some people get them more often than others, but I think it's something we all have in common as humans. We are given this gut instinct as part of our make-up. What's the problem then? I think a lot of people don't get quiet and still enough to actually listen to their gut or pick up on their intuitive hits. For example, a woman who is go-go-go and busy 25 hours per day (that's not a typo) may be getting intuitive hits, but she can't even see or hear them because she is so distracted by life. This doesn't mean she necessarily needs to learn how to meditate for an hour a day, but she does need to find a way to get calm, grounded, and feel more stillness in her daily life so that intuitive thoughts and gut feelings can be seen and heard. Maybe that's doing yoga in the evenings before bed for 20 minutes, or making time for a 30 minute walk a few times per week, or maybe even sipping morning coffee in solitude for 10 minutes without the distractions of an iPhone or TV. 

Now, the Universe (or God, or whatever word you like to use) only provides the intuitive hit - it's up to you to take the first step. In all three of my big decisions, I had the courage to take that first big step forward because I have a tremendous amount of faith and trust in my intuition. I knew that all three changes were going to grow me into a better person and - even if they didn't turn out the way I had envisioned - they were going to turn out to be exactly what I needed to grow and evolve into the next chapter of my life. I also knew these big changes were going to involve some growing pains, but that is normal and I didn't freak out about it. I kept my eye on the prize, sort of speak. I like to use this analogy: the Universe provides the intuitive guidance but you have to decide you're ready to crack your shell and grow beyond your current situation. The cracking is going to be a little difficult and might even be painful at times, but you'll make it through because you know there is a bigger shell - a bigger life - waiting for you on the other side.

And now here's the magic: once you take that first step, once you say an undeniable "YES", the Universe (or God) is going to show up again and be right by your side the entire time. Trust me. Have faith in that. I've experienced it firsthand, on more than one occasion. In fact, no less than three times in the last three years :) If you've been following along with me for any part of the last 3 years, I hope I can be an example of what can happen when you say "YES." When you take a risk. When you make a big change (or two, or three!).

So here's a cheers to following your gut and cracking your existing shell to make room for a bigger one!

xo,

Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I want to share the 5 key things that contributed to my success as a business owner. I opened grace + hudson in June 2017 and at the close of 2019 we're officially a six-figure business! I feel like I've earned the right to speak a little about what it takes to succeed, especially because it's all so recent and fresh on my mind. There are so many people out there claiming to be "business coaches", preaching all day long about what it takes to succeed, but did you know very few of them have built an actual business outside of their coaching business? As someone who quit her day job almost 3 years ago and built a six-figure jewelry business in that time frame, I want to chime in with what I think it takes to succeed. And let me tell you straight out of the gate, if you've been listening to those run-of-the-mill business coaches on Instagram, this list of 5 things is not going to be what you expect! Here it goes...

1. You have got to identify the stories that are controlling your life. The ones that got you here, where you are today. Because if you aren't where you want to be, chances are you have some nagging negative stories and beliefs that are holding you back. Know you can choose differently. 
If you've been following along with these Weekly Journal entries, you've heard me talk about this before. Here are some examples of negative thought patterns that were sabotaging me back when I was a lawyer: (a) I must hustle to succeed, even to the detriment of my personal and social life, (b) I need to succeed because it proves my worth to the world, and I feel the need to prove myself, (c) everyone else has a job they hate, so why should I think I’m entitled to anything different?, (d) I must work hard at a job I don’t like until I can retire and then I can do what I want. Do any of these sound familiar to you? Do any of them resonate? If you felt a twinge of pain when you read any of them, that's a sign! Know you can choose differently. When you change the way you think about things, the things around you start to change (which is an awesome paraphrased quote from author Wayne Dyer).

2. You have got to find a way to quiet your mind chatter because you're missing out on a ton of creative, innovative, exciting ideas if you don't. 
We're all human which means we all have a non-stop mix tape of thoughts running through our heads all day long. And as a follow-up to #1, I would bet that mix tape contains at least a few negative songs. You may not even be aware of them! So you have got to find a way to quiet your mind and quiet those negative thoughts. I'm telling you - the BEST BUSINESS IDEAS COME IN TIMES OF STILLNESS. You know why some people get their best ideas in the shower? It might be the only "quiet time" they have all day. It's no coincidence. You don't need to learn how to meditate if you don't want to learn how to meditate. But what you do need to do is find something that allows you to relax your thoughts. If you're into sports, it can be shooting hoops on the basketball court for 10 minutes. If you love coffee or tea, it can be sitting on your patio for 10 minutes with that warm mug and no background noise. Or maybe for you, those 10 minutes in the shower are golden. Find out what works for you and do it every single day. Research says that even 5 to 10 minutes per day can do the trick. Once you get into the habit, you'll begin to access more of your creative thoughts -- you know, all of those ideas that I believe are gifted to us. Where do all those creative ideas come from by the way? I believe it's from God or the Universe (or whatever word you like to use to refer to your intuition, to your guidance system, to your higher power). I also believe that we cannot access that higher power if we never take the time to be still and listen. 

3. You have got to trust the process and have faith that, no matter what happens, you'll end up exactly where you're meant to be. 
To make the leap from a typical job to owning a business, you must trust in the process and have faith that, no matter what happens, it's all going to work out in the end exactly the way it's supposed to. There is never, ever going to be a moment where you'll know with 100% certainty that your leap from corporate America to jewelry business owner, for example, is going to succeed from a financial perspective. Never. But what you can be 100% certain of is that you're going to learn a lot along the way, grow and evolve as a person, and meet a lot of different people along the pathway of business ownership. Maybe your business will fail, but you'll meet the owner of another business and become her partner down the road. Or maybe, like me, your first jewelry business won't make enough money to survive but you learn so much from this "failure" that you open a second jewelry business several years later and that one succeeds quickly. You just never know how things are going to work out, but somehow all the dots will connect in the end. They always do.  

4. You have got to allow success.
This sounds silly, right? But so many of us have become so used to mediocrity that it's difficult to accept the awesome gift of success. For example, guilt and doubt will creep in when your business starts to take off. The voice in your head will say, "Who are you to earn good money from work you love, when the rest of the world is living the TGIF culture?" You might even feel like a fraud at times. You may even sabotage the whole thing (subconsciously of course). So you have got to hone your ability to claim success. Otherwise, doubts and guilt will destroy anything you manage to build. We are so good at feeling anger, pain, and frustration; we need to get better at feeling joy, success, and pride. One of my personal mantras is "receive it" - I have to continually remind myself to receive all the goodness coming my way otherwise I often fall back into the old default mode of pushing it away. It's something I've gotten much better at with a little work, so I know you can too.

5. Patience is key. Success takes time - we're talking years, not months.
Starting your own business is a marathon, not a sprint. There's no such thing as an overnight success (trust me, if something succeeds that quickly, it's also going to disappear just as quickly). You've got to be in it for the long haul. An average business doesn't start to generate real money until year two. But when it does, what an awesome return on your initial investment of time and money! Think of it liking investing in property - you're building something that'll generate increasing amounts of wealth for you as the years go by. Unlike a typical office job where there's usually a defined ceiling on how much you can earn even at the highest level, the amount you can earn from your own business is almost limitless. But, just like real estate, it doesn't happen overnight or even over a few months. It usually takes a couple years, at least. If you get bored quickly, if you don't have patience, or if you aren't great at sticking with things, then owning a business might not be for you (or it might be just the thing you need to develop patience and stick-with-it-ness). Along the same lines, you need to accept that if you want to own your own business, you will probably need to keep your day job for a while until you get it off the ground. This is not a bad thing. It takes a lot of the pressure off so that you can make decisions that are good for the business, not just your paycheck. Just think how far along you'd be today if you had started working on your business idea two years ago - even if just for a few hours per week on the weekends.

There you have it - my view of the 5 most important things that contributed to my success as a business owner. As you can see, they ALL have to do with mindset. Some of you may grumble at that but my response to that is: your mindset is 100% within your control. There's not much within our control these days, but what goes on in our minds is entirely up to us. It takes practice, but new mental habits are definitely within reach if you're willing to put in the work. It's just like physical exercise - no overnight results but with daily dedication, all of a sudden the pounds will start to drop off. 

Now for an exciting announcement! I've hinted at this over the past few months, but it's all come together: I'm going to be offering mentor and coaching services in 2020! This has been a long time coming. I've spoken to so many of you about career change, how to start a business, and how I quit my lawyer job, and I've wanted to offer help and assistance in a more formal way than these Weekly Journal entries allow. Stay tuned for all the details! They'll be announced over the course of the next week, and there will be various mentoring options available. I look forward to connecting with you in a more substantial and helpful way, especially if your background is similar to mine and you've been stuck in a job you don't like for way too long.

Cheers to making big strides towards big dreams in 2020!

xoxo,

Stacy  

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I'm sharing my top 3 book recommendations for making big change. If you want to make a big life change like I did, it first starts in your mind. It starts with an idea or a desire or a dream. So how do you make that idea in your mind a reality? You have got to change your mindset around that topic. You can't create a different reality with the same thought patterns. Makes sense, right? Well, these books will help you do that:

1. Know Yourself, Know Your Money by Rachel Cruz

The number one reason holding people back from doing what they love is money. No surprise there. So if you'd like to make a big career change or start your own business, you must first get a grip on your finances. A lot of people feel overwhelmed by that so they just stop there, whining about how they'll never be able to break out of their current career because "I just don't have the money." But there's another choice available to you! You can feel secure and confident around money when you start educating yourself about it. This book is a great place to start because it helps you discover WHY you handle money the way you do. Once you understand your thoughts and habits around the topic of money, it becomes a whole lot easier to change them and move forward into healthier money habits and practices. This book is definitely much more about mindset than it is about personal finance tips and tricks. The tips and tricks mean nothing if your mindset isn't in the right place. This is why some people who win the lottery end up in bankruptcy. Throwing money at the problem doesn't help if the underlying beliefs and habits don't change. You feel me? Get the mindset right first, and then focus on the nitty gritty of personal finance (and the author Rachel has a great You Tube channel with tons of information on that).

2. A Return To Love by Marianne Williamson

This book is based off another book called A Course In Miracles, which asserts  that everything we do, think, and say either stems from love or stems from fear. In other words, we only have two choices in life - take action from a place of love or take action from a place of fear. And the choice we make dictates our reality. This  concept was very eye-opening for me because I realized that so many of my actions were coming from a place of fear. "Fear" encompasses all sorts of negative emotions, like doubt, worry, and the thought that we're not good enough or not worthy of something. It was no wonder that I was in a job I didn't like and not experiencing all the joy the world has to offer. When I learned how to make choices not from fear, but from a place of love (which encompasses all sorts of positive emotions like peace, joy, and personal empowerment) my life truly did begin to change. And it changed dramatically.

If you find this book overwhelming (it is pretty deep!), I encourage you to head straight to the chapters on work and career, and also the one on love and relationships. These chapters are the most relatable because Marianne is great at giving real life examples we can all relate to. In turn, that makes the principles she discusses a little more understandable. In particular, I find the chapter on relationships to be incredibly enlightening. I found myself saying over and over again, "I never thought about it that way before" and it's helped me greatly in my own personal relationships. Once you get through this book, I think you'll agree with me that there is ALWAYS another perspective. There's always another way to look at something. There's always a choice to see good in something that we'd ordinarily label as "bad." And once you understand that it's YOUR choice how you view a situation, you'll catch yourself reframing all sorts of ideas in your head. That is absolutely critical to making big change. You can't create a different career or a different life for yourself with the same old thought patterns that got you to where you are today. It's not easy, but once you understand and grasp that, you'll gain so much power. The rest is easy in comparison.

One more thing to note - the book You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero covers a lot of the same principles but in a very funny way (as you can gather from the title). So if you just can't get through A Return To Love, try Jen's book. If you read enough of these books on mindset you'll come to realize they are all saying the same things - it's just a matter of finding which authors resonate with you. For example, Gabby Bernstein is another author that writes about the same principles and her style is different from both Marianne and Jen. So keep on searching until you find the author that connects with you.

P.S. Try the Audible version of Jen's book. Her dry humor in her own voice is pretty hilarious at times. Marianne's though is a little too deep to listen to on Audible, in my opinion. I needed the words in front of me so I could reread them over and over again.

3. May Cause Miracles 40-Day Guidebook by Gabby Bernstein

Speaking of Gabby Bernstein, my third book is written by her. None of the information in these books is going to be useful to you in real life unless you apply it in every day life. Easier said than done! This guidebook helped me do that. I reached a point in my life where I had all this knowledge from so many books and webinars and videos, but nothing was really changing in my own life. I was aware of the patterns and habits that were holding me back, but they weren't really changing. Well, this book sparked the change. It taught me how to practice the principles I learned on a daily basis. It taught me how to incorporate them into my own life. I recommend the Audible version over the written version so you can listen to each of the 40 days during your commute to work or while you get ready in the morning. This makes it much easier to stick to the 40 days. 

Once you finish the 40 days, you have the freedom to pick and choose how to create your own daily practice. Mine has evolved over the years, and yours will too, but I think you'll agree with me that tapping into these principles on a daily basis is critical to your success. 

These books helped me to see myself and the world differently. And changing my mindset - especially as it relates to career and money - was absolutely critical to my success. I continue to read books in this area because each new growth phase of a business requires something different from you. It truly is a journey of personal growth, not just business growth! If you're thinking about making a big change like I did, I hope you'll pick up these 3 books and see just how possible it is to think differently about yourself, the world, and your dreams.

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe. I hope you're able to learn something from my experience and also my mistakes!

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past couple years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I'm sharing one of the most critical things I did in the early stages of starting grace + hudson. There were many critical things of course, but this one thing was critical for remaining focused and positive even when things got tough. When you first speak about starting a business, people will tell you you're crazy. Maybe you've experienced this yourself. They'll tell you all the reasons why it's a waste of time and money and too risky, even though they've never done it themselves. And they don't stop - you'll hear comments from this negative crowd throughout the first few years of your business. People are so quick to point out the reasons a dream can fail. The other day I was speaking with a friend who's starting her own business and we talked about this. In speaking with her, I realized there was one critical thing I did almost every day during the early stages of grace + hudson, when the negative crowd felt the loudest. It's simple, accessible to everyone, and can even be done for free. It's working out. I know, not very glamorous or magical, right?

I am not someone who's always been athletic or always worked out. I dabbled in basketball in high school, running in college, and yoga when I first began working as a lawyer. Months might go by before my next run or yoga class, depending on how busy I was. I didn't really discover the power of working out until I was about 35, dealing with the grief of my father's death. He had a short 10-month battle with cancer before passing at the young age of 65. As anyone who's experienced the loss of a loved one can tell you, grief is a complex thing. It comes in layers and requires much time to process. To help process my grief, I started seeing a therapist. She suggested I pick up a regular exercise routine to help my mental state. Exercise endorphins are a real thing, she said, and as someone who has mental illness in my family, I really couldn't afford not to do it. I thought that was an interesting statement. She viewed exercise as a sort of medication or preventative measure. Think of it this way - when there is mental illness in your family, therefore putting you at higher risk for developing mental illness, the release of endorphins is a non-negotiable. Done on a daily basis, it can actually act as a sort of "insurance" against developing mental illness (or lessening its impact). I felt so bad at the time, I decided to give it a whirl. Why not? I felt pretty horrible, processing all of this grief, that I was willing to try anything. Right around the same time, a cool app for your phone called Classpass rolled out in my city. Classpass is a very affordable way to attend fitness classes in your area at a discounted rate. You can go to any fitness studio on the app without a membership or pricey "per class" fee. I thought it was a good way to really give this exercise routine thing a try. And as you might guess, I never looked back. From that point on exercise has been, and always will be, first and foremost about my mental health. The physical benefits are just an added bonus for me. Moving my body clears out the junk running through my mind. I'm not sure how that works, but it's true. Endorphins I guess! 

About 2 years after this new "health kick" of mine, I quit my lawyer job to start grace + hudson. Due to my schedule, I found it best to workout in the morning. I was never big on morning workouts but, oh my goodness, I found magic! An early morning workout never failed to get me into the proper mindset to battle all the demons that come out when you start a business.... doubt, worry, lack of self-confidence, etc...they fight you hard! Add to those demons the negative comments from family and friends and, whew, you have a battle to dodge each day. As if starting a business isn't hard enough, right? But when I got those endorphins running early in the day, those demons slid right off my back. They had no power. Those workouts gave me a "can do anything" attitude and even though I didn't realize it at the time, that "can do anything" attitude transferred over into my business. Looking back, 5 years later, I can honestly say my morning workouts were one of the critical things I did in those early stages.

Listen, starting a business from scratch is HARD. I don't have to tell you that, I'm sure. It plays mind games with you because it demands every last ounce of you and it digs up old negative stories and thought patterns that need to be overhauled. Namely, your stories and practices around money, your stories and views about career, your views about "success" and what that means to you, and your beliefs around self-confidence, just to name a few. Focus and a positive mindset are crucial to getting through the tough initial period. But oh how you grow! Oh my goodness, I've evolved and grown so much as a person since I started my business. It's been truly amazing. I cannot say that about my legal career. Sure, I learned how to be a better lawyer during those 11 years, but a better person? No. Actually, I think I became a worse person during that time, sadly.

If you are starting a new business or thinking about it, I highly encourage adopting a workout routine especially in the morning. Experience those endorphins and what they can do for you. I've written many times that mindset is key to succeeding as a small business owner, and endorphins really do naturally help you get into that empowered state of mind. When you intentionally choose a "can do" attitude each morning, you will be able to endure the trials and tribulations of small business start-ups.

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe. I hope you're able to learn something from my experience and also my mistakes!

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of my journal entries. I have a few weekly journal entries on the board right now, and I'm adding more on a weekly basis. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past couple years and I want to make it easier for you to read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I'm writing about a topic we all can relate to: career and money. I have this book called One Day My Soul Just Opened Up by Iyanla Vanzant, which is a daily devotional book. Each day the author offers a couple of pages on a principle you might want to think deeper about and implement into your daily life like surrender, service, prayer, compassion, and so on. Day 14 is entitled "Freedom" and this passage jumped off the page at me:

Most of my life I thought I wanted money. I believed that if I had money to do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, I would be deliriously happy and free. As a child and as an adult, I have often heard myself self, "Boy! I wish I had a million dollars." I thought that would be my ticket to freedom. One day I woke up with those same thoughts floating around in my mind, and by the end of the day I had $1.1 million. It was a short time later that I realized it was not the money that I actually wanted. My true desire was for the freedom I thought the money would bring. It was too late! I had the money and all of the obligations that came along with earning it.

Wow. That is a game-changing perspective. I got chills when she said, "It was a short time later that I realized it was not the money that I actually wanted. My true desire was for the freedom I thought the money would bring." That right there is the way you need to look at money and, by extension, career. It is NOT about the money. It is about what the money will bring or help us achieve. We get so caught up in dollars and cents and bills and financial goals, that we sometimes lose sight of that. We lose sight of why we actually need and want money.

The truth of the matter is, most of us don't need to be multi-millionaires to live our dreams. Don't believe me? Try playing the abundance game, sometimes referred to as the prosperity game. You can Google it to see what it's all about, or click here to read about it. But basically, each day your money grows and you have to list out how you would spend it (aside from your rent or mortgage and basic bills). It wasn't long before I struggled to find ways to spend the money! You'll learn other things about your views around money if you play the game, but the one thing that stands out is that you don't really need to be a multi-millionaire to live the way you want to live. That, in and of itself, is a very freeing idea.

Quite incorrectly, we are taught by society, or our university, or our parents to strive for the best job with the best salary we can obtain, when really we should be taught to strive for the feelings we think that salary will bring. What would those be? Namely, they are freedom, security, and stability (and maybe a few others personal to you). And the truth of the matter is, freedom, security, and stability are NOT found in money and they are available to you REGARDLESS of how much money you make. Huh? Yep, that's right. The disconnect occurs when you think you can only get freedom, security, and stability through money. 

So, let's get practical here and talk about what that really means. Is the new career or job you're dreaming about going to be more fulfilling, and therefore bring you more joy and internal peace? That's stability right there. Mental stability. And mental stability is a lot more valuable than boatloads of money in the bank. For one, you can't buy mental health or physical health. Health is arguably the most valuable form of abundance.

Here's another example. Is the new career or job going to make use of your God-given talents and gifts which you aren't using in your current job? If you answered yes, that's security right there. Let me explain. When you use the talents, gifts, and skills you were born with, you are working from a place of service (i.e. how can I best serve the world with the special skills I have?). This is the opposite of working from a place of "I need a paycheck." When you build a career around the gifts that come naturally to you, you're going to excel more quickly, more easily, and face less risk of layoff. And even if you do face a job cut, you're likely going to gain a new one quickly. Job security doesn't mean "I have a job with this employer forever." No, no. Job security means "I naturally excel in this field because of my God-given talents and skills and therefore even if my employer goes bankrupt through no fault of my own, I will find a new job in this field quickly because I'm naturally great at it." That's security right there.

Now here's the kicker. Ironically, when you approach career and work from this perspective, the money follows! It's amazing. Almost like magic. It doesn't happen overnight and some patience is needed, but when you commit to work that's in alignment with YOU, the money follows naturally.  

If you want to make a career or job change of some sort and you are hung up on the money issues that are involved in the decision, try changing your focus. Try changing your perspective. What are you chasing? Paychecks? Or real feelings of stability and security and freedom for the long-term? Always prioritize the latter. The money will take care of itself. Trust me. I am living proof of this through my decision to quit my 11-year career as an attorney in 2017 to start grace + hudson.

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe. I hope you're able to learn something from my experience and also my mistakes!

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of my journal entries. I only have a few weekly journal entries on the board right now, but I'm adding more on a daily basis. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past couple years and I want to make it easier for you to read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I want to talk a little about marketing. If you just started a small business or want to someday, it's important you become comfortable with marketing. Yet so many small business owners think "marketing" is a dirty word! It's something that makes them feel icky and slimy. But how can customers find you if you don't engage in marketing? You might have the solution or item they've been looking for but if they don't know about you, they can't buy from you.   

Let's start with the basics. What is "marketing" anyways? The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." Basically, it's your strategy for communicating to people who might benefit from your product or service. News flash: posting to Instagram on a daily basis is not a marketing strategy! It can be one part of your marketing strategy. But, in order to work well and scale up, your marketing strategy needs to include multiple avenues for communication. In other words, it needs to be diversified. And you need to have a marketing budget. There are free communication channels (like posting on Instagram) but a real marketing strategy that has the possibility of long-term success incorporates both free and paid marketing strategies. What type of paid marketing strategies are out there? You can run an advertisement in your local newspaper, run ads on Instagram or Facebook, learn how to use Google Ads, start an email list and communicate with your subscribers regularly (and make sure you're giving them value! No one wants another newsletter in their inbox that has nothing unique, special, different, or valuable about it), run ads on Pinterest, pay for a space at a trade show if that's where you're most likely to meet potential customers, etc.

Let me insert some real talk here. You might feel a little overwhelmed after reading that and thinking about a marketing budget. But if you want a REAL business, you need to engage in REAL marketing. Selling to friends and family is not a real business - it's more of a glorified hobby. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh (and by the way, it's totally ok if you want a little on-the-side sort of business like that!). But I think most people start a small business with the hopes of growing it into something that can really support their family, with extra left over. And if that's you, you need to sell to strangers. Your friends and family can only buy so much. So how do you find strangers to sell to? Marketing!

If you feel icky or slimey about marketing, like you're some sort of used car salesman, I would suggest you work on your ideas and beliefs around marketing. Read the definition of it again - it's the "processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers." If you truly believe you meet a need and your product or service has value, why would you ever feel icky about telling people about it? You have a solution that meets their need! And p.s. you don't need to be solving world hunger! You can be solving the silliest need ever - for example, I would absolutely love if someone came up with a lotion pump that would allow you to use the last amount of lotion at the bottom of the bottle. That would be amazing! Have you ever turned the bottle upside down and used the remaining lotion? It lasts for like 2 weeks! That's a lot of money to dump down the drain over the years. So, ask yourself, what value does your service or product have to the people who'll most enjoy it? Keep your focus on the value, and you'll stop feeling like a used car salesman.

If you're struggling here, let me suggest something else. You might need to work a little bit on your confidence. If you aren't confident in your business idea, how can you expect a stranger to be? This is an issue for women in particular. It's like this - you finally get the courage to start your own business, and now you have to work on having the courage to believe in your products or services. But for some reason, we doubt. We doubt whether people will really like what we have to offer. We think, "Why would someone ever want to buy from me?" It's a mind game! I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Starting a business is a challenging personal journey and it requires you to work more on your mindset than your website. P.S. I have been there! I know what it's like. And if you need someone to talk through this with, I offer mentoring services which you can read about here.   

I hope, after reading this, you're thinking about marketing in a new light. And let me end with this - marketing is going to be a huge part of your duties as a business owner. If you truly don't like it, you might want to reconsider becoming a business owner. I mean it! Of all the tasks I do each week, marketing always takes up the most time. I didn't know this before I started g+h, but I happen to really enjoy marketing. I enjoy learning about it, studying it, and taking courses on it. I enjoy looking at all the data and trends and making new strategies based on that information. I think it's really interesting, especially in this new era where small businesses can afford to advertise on social media platforms and reach ideal customers so easily. It is so inexpensive and effective compared to the days when people had to advertise in magazines and newspapers (and you never really knew how effective the ads were unless someone specifically told you they found you in such-and-such magazine).

One last note. I don't recommend outsourcing marketing, especially in the beginning. I recommend you take a few courses on marketing (I can make some recommendations if you like!) and learn about it yourself. Then, after you've tried some different things and somewhat nailed down your strategy, I think it's ok to hand over the reins to someone who can take your directions and make it happen. Why? In the beginning, marketing is just too important to outsource - it basically forms your business's personality and image, and that stuff is still forming and changing in the early stages. It's just like an infant! And if you outsource it, you're giving a stranger too much power to form your business's personality. 

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe. I hope you're able to learn something from my experience and also my mistakes!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry I want to answer a question I get a lot. It goes something like this, "How did you learn how to start your own business? You know, how did you learn how to be a business owner?" I'm so far into the business ownership journey that sometimes I forget to back up, way up, to the very beginning. If you've spent years working as a teacher or lawyer or nurse, how do you learn how to do something else? It can sound a little daunting, right? Personally, I started by heading to...where else...the Internet! I did online research, took online courses, and found a whole bunch of podcasts on the topic of starting your own business. Before I get into more detail about these, allow me to make a quick aside. I want to mention that I do have an undergraduate degree in business but it didn't help much...ok, like, at all. Similarly, I've heard business school graduates with MBA degrees say the same thing. High level business school education at universities prepares you to work high-level corporate jobs - it doesn't really prepare you to be a small business owner. Why is that important? If you don't have a business degree, please do not let that deter you! You can do this!

Ok, let's get into it. Be so very thankful that the Internet exists right now at this moment in time! I'm sure it was a lot harder to start a business 30 or 40 years ago when the Internet wasn't the wealth of free information it is today. Just search "how to start an online business" in Google and you'll be bombarded with ads for days to come from teachers offering webinars on the topic. And honestly, that's how I initially found all the helpful courses, podcasts, articles, etc that guided me on my business journey. I'm not joking! Go Google it and you'll see exactly what I mean. At the beginning stages, you won't need to spend a dime on educating yourself about business ownership (seriously!). Many of the teachers in this area offer free webinars to woo you to take their paid online courses, and you could probably spend 12 months straight taking free webinars and studying free guides if you wanted to. There literally is that much information available out there. Don't believe me? One of my favorite teachers offers a guide of 322+ free business tools and resources (click here for it)!

Once you get sufficiently overwhelmed with all the information and teachers out there (and you will), find the teachers and teaching styles that resonate with you. We all learn differently and we all have different goals. Some teachers focus on service-based businesses (like career coaching) and some focus on product businesses (like jewelry) and some are in between. Once you find a couple teachers who resonate with you, just dive in! Go to their websites, read their guides, watch their videos, go down the rabbit hole! Get lost in it all. Youtube videos, podcasts, blogs, books, webinars, Instagram Lives, articles... digest and learn as much as you can.

Here's an important tip: if you start to go down these rabbit holes and you don't enjoy it, that's a red flag. For me, personally, I could listen to podcasts about starting a business, growing a business, and general entrepreneurship all day long. It truly does interest me. It's nerdy of me to admit, but I'd rather watch an interesting one-hour webinar on digital advertising than a show on Netflix. And this should be you during the start-up stage in particular... you should be craving knowledge and soaking it all up. If you aren't - if you're finding it boring, draining, and uninteresting - business ownership might not be for you. Why? Because owning a business primarily revolves around growth strategy, marketing strategy, website data and analytics, etc. If you don't like this part, it's going to be an up-hill battle. Let me put it a little differently - the "fun" part of my business, you know, the jewelry-marking part, takes up maybe 20% of my time. That means 80% of my time is filled with other business-related things. I think some people go into business ownership with false ideas of their day-to-day schedule. For example, if you want to open an online art business, don't expect to spend most of your days creating gorgeous paintings. Most of your time, especially in the beginning, will be spent on the "business side" of things. So, if that doesn't sound fun, save yourself a lot of heartache (and money!) and admit to yourself that business ownership is probably not the best fit for you. That's totally ok! 

I'm sure you're waiting for me to list my favorite resources, so here they are:

• Marie Forleo
• Her videos are gold! It's probably easiest to start with her video series on YouTube. She has a podcast too (which I think is the video content turned into audio). I enjoy her perspective so much that I enrolled in her B-School Course which wasn't cheap, but was honestly the best investment I ever made in my business. Her website is https://www.marieforleo.com/
• Jenna Kutcher
• She offers a ton of great content online, in both video and blog format. She also offers paid courses. I took her Pinterest for Business course recently and I thought it was well done. She has a podcast too! Her website is https://jennakutcher.com/
• Amy Porterfield
• Amy has been teaching for a long, long time. I've never taken any of her paid courses, but I've listened to some of her free webinars. For me personally, I found her later in my journey when I was too advanced for her most popular courses. She also has a podcast! Her website is https://www.amyporterfield.com/ 
• Beth Anne of Brilliant Business Moms
• Ok, I'm not a mom and you might not be either, but don't let it bother you. I really find her to be a great teacher - she is far more practical than anyone else I've come across. I took her Facebook Ads Intensive course and I am a Facebook Ads ninja because of her! You have to apply to the program to be accepted and she only does it a few times a year. Worth it's weight in gold. Here's her website: https://brilliantbusinessmoms.com/
• Kaity Griffin
• Kaity is a Google Ads teacher and she knows what she's talking about. She presents information in a quick and easy way. She can boil down hard topics into digestable bites. Here is her website: https://kaitygriffin.com/
• Podcasts:
• Marie Forleo's podcast
• Jenna Kutcher's podcast called Goal Digger
• Amy Porterfield's podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy
• Rick Mulready's podcast called The Art of Online Business (don't start here first - this is more advanced)
• How I Built This with Guy Raz (unlike the above, you won't learn practical advice here, but you'll learn how other businesses started and grew which is very helpful and inspirational too)

There you have it! Start with this smaller list and you'll naturally stumble upon so many other teachers and resources. If I can leave you with one last tip it would be this: you have got to learn and come to understand marketing, especially digital marketing (such as advertising on social media platforms). If no one knows about your business, it doesn't matter how great it is. People can't buy from businesses they don't know about. And in today's saturated online marketplace, you have got to learn how to navigate marketing. On a positive note, digital advertising has never been cheaper. It is so affordable to advertise online. I think there's no wiser way to spend your money than by investing in at least 2 or 3 online courses that deal with marketing once you've surpassed the stage of reviewing all the "free" information out there. For example, take Amy Porterfield's email list-building course and the Facebook Ads Intensive. 

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every Monday night, click here to subscribe. I hope you're able to learn something from my experience and also my mistakes!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. This week's journal entry is for you if you're longing to quit the traditional path you're on and pursue the calling of your heart. I want to give you my honest, personal opinion on the hardest thing you'll encounter, the biggest hurdle you'll need to clear, as you try to embark on this awesome, fulfilling journey. 

First, let's start by defining what I mean by "traditional path." It varies to some degree for everyone, but I like to refer to the traditional path as the "life checklist" path. People on this path generally have accomplished the following or are somewhere in the middle of accomplishing the following: graduated high school and tried to get into the best college, then the best grad school, then the best workplace, and then they found someone to marry, got a dog, bought a house, had 2.5 kids, got promoted and - BOOM - finished the checklist only to find that happiness was not waiting for them there. I noticed this at my first job when I was 22. At the time, I was working in NYC at a law firm as a legal assistant (before I went to law school) and I noticed that all of the attorneys there went to like Harvard or Yale, got a lawyer job at one of the best law firms, got married, bought a beautiful home or condo in NYC, had a child or two, bought a Lexus, got promoted to "partner" level, went on extravagant vacations, yet they seemed miserable day-to-day. "What's that all about?" I wondered. These people - on the outside - had all the hallmarks of a "successful" life yet they often didn't have much happiness, peace, joy, or light in their eyes. Why is that? I think it's because people on this path put too much energy and effort into acquiring all of these things and accomplishments under the misguided perception that happiness, peace, and joy would be waiting for them at the end of the journey. And in the meantime, they've neglected their own growth, self-development and the real inner work that leads to maturity and authentic peace and happiness.

If you identify as a person on the traditional path, here's the biggest hurdle you're going to encounter when you try to quit or change careers and follow the calling of your heart: challenging the "life checklist" mentality and enduring the judgment of friends and family who are firmly rooted in this mentality. In my opinion, nothing is more difficult. The nuts and bolts of starting a business are relatively easy compared to constantly having to battle this idea that you're somehow wrong for wanting to follow your heart and create a good life for yourself that has meaning, depth, and joy. In addition, many times these judgments will come from friends, co-workers, and family members and if they don't believe in you, how are you supposed to believe in you? It can throw you for a loop.

I can still remember all the judgments I endured when I quit my lawyer job. I quit that profession not once but twice, so believe me when I tell you I remember the criticism, judgments, snide remarks, and insulting comments. The comments that still stand out are these:

• You really think you can make enough money selling jewelry?
• How are you going to pay for your living expenses?
• You're just going to waste your law degree like that?
• Have you ever thought about trying a different field of law instead? (Oh my gosh, this was my pet peeve. You really think I haven't thoroughly examined this idea!?)
• What business experience do you have to run your own business? (Said in a very derogatory tone)
• So, like, when are you going to go back to being a lawyer? (Again, said in a very derogatory tone)

Here's the deal. At the end of the day, these comments say more about the person making them than they do about you. They're coming from people who have bought the life checklist mentality hook, line, and sinker. These people get really uncomfortable when they see someone they know challenging that mentality. You know why? Because they have to face the possibility that maybe there is another way. That maybe they have chosen incorrectly. And, boy oh boy, these types of people don't like to be wrong about the way they've approached things. Trust me, I've met lots and lots of them in the legal profession.

The easiest way to deflect these negative comments and go on about your day is to remember this: the people throwing these negative comments your way are firmly rooted in a perspective that you don't agree with anymore. You are not the same. They think "small" and you do not. Meaning, they think everyone should be on the straight and narrow "life checklist" path and anyone who veers outside of that is crazy, naive, weird, strange, etc. Don't let them deter you. Don't let them steer you off your path. You'll be the one living the good life in a few years, while they stay trapped in a life checklist mentality. P.S. - it's great fun for me to talk to the people who previously judged me! Some of them can hardly believe that I never went back to law. Most of them are supportive, but I can tell it kills some of them to say nice things to me now. You know why? Because I'm hitting that little nerve inside of them that wonders whether their own life can be different. Some people are just not ready, and might never be ready, to really put in the mental work to pursue a life they love.

But you can! You can pursue a life you love. And you'll grow so much along the way. Whether your business ultimately takes off or closes down, you'll move through the rest of your life with a grace and an ability to endure any type of judgment or criticism. 

xoxo, 

Stacy